The Building Act 2004 regulates building work, establishes a licensing regime for builders and sets building standards so that our buildings are safe, healthy and well designed. The building consent process ensures these important objectives are achieved.

Building consent is basically permission from Council to carry out building work. You need to apply for building consent before starting work to ensure that your project complies with the Building Act 2004. In some cases you will also need a resource consent prior to starting work.

Contact the Building department to see if your project requires building consent and for questions about the building consent process. Some very helpful links and documents describing the building consent process are:

A Project Information Memorandum is a report compiled by Council about your specific building project for a specific site. PIMs are not required but can help you decide whether your project is feasible and likely to be approved. A PIM identifies known information on the land that can affect your project like:

Building restrictions

Flooding

Subsidence

Hazardous material on site

If Resource Consent is required

Outstanding water contributions

Materials

Applying for Building Consent

Building consent applications can be completed for you by your builder or architect depending on your arrangement with them. If you want to apply for the building consent yourself you will need to know how to comply with the Building Act 2004, Building Regulations and the Building Code, all of which are essential for safe and healthy buildings in New Zealand. We recommend lodging your building consent application in person so the building team can go over it with you.

Inspections are carried out by Council’s inspectors during and after the construction process as defined by the Building Act. Inspections done at the prescribed times ensures Council has enough information to issue a Code Compliance Certificate when the project is complete. Your building consent document will detail the inspections that must be carried out. It is your responsibility to email the Building Department or ring 06 306 9611 a minimum of 24 hours in advance to book the inspections; be sure to have your building consent number handy. Plans and documentation must be on site during the inspection, otherwise the inspection will have to be rescheduled. We will attempt to do inspections as soon as possible, but depending on workloads a delay may be experienced.

Building Inspection checklists

These checklists are for builders use to ensure the relevant work has been completed prior to calling for a building inspection, they do not form part of the building consent application: